Influenza virus transmission (experimental data)

Abstract

Person-to-person transmission plays key role to seasonal and pandemic influenza virus spread. There is a need to better understand the transmission of influenza viruses so that we may improve methods for their control and prevention. At present, vaccination with live influenza vaccines has been used as an effective public health tool for influenza prophylaxis. Thus study of potential possibility of reassortment of circulating influenza viruses with live influenza vaccine viruses followed by vaccination is extremely important. In this study the ability of pig-to-pig transmission of H5N1 and novel pandemic H1N1 viruses was studied. The efficacy of vaccination with cold-adapted influenza viruses in blocking the transmission of wild type influenza viruses between guinea pigs was also examined. The results shown are H5N1 virus is highly contagious agent w//ch can be transmit both between co-caged naive guinea pigs and individuals separated from infected animals at a distance of 4-5 meters. The relative mildness of the pandemic 2009 (H1N1) swine influenza virus transmission between guinea pigs compared to H5N1 virus was demonstrated. Data indicated that interference between cold-adapted and wild type influenza viruses had taken place. These findings open up new prospects in live influenza pandemic vaccine preparedness and confirmed weakness of fear that large scale vaccination of population with live attenuated influenza vaccine may lead to generation of reassortant «mutants-killers» possessed abnormally high level of pathogenicity.